Practice question · True or false
A party winning 40 per cent of the vote under first past the post typically receives about 40 per cent of the seats.
Hints
- The system is designed to manufacture majorities.
- Such a party routinely takes well over half the seats.
Show the answer
False
Why
False, and the gap is the system working as intended rather than failing. Plurality systems routinely convert around 40 per cent of votes into a comfortable majority of seats. Whether that is a virtue, decisive government, or a defect is exactly the argument between the two families.
Practise Electoral Systems
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More questions on Electoral Systems
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